The Warriors can use that kind of production as they embark on their 82-game, regular-season journey, starting Wednesday night against the Suns. Barnes, the team's top pick in the June draft, is competing with four-year veteran Brandon Rush for the starting job at small forward.

Barnes started six of Golden State's eight preseason games, averaging 10.4 points; Rush started the other two and averaged 8.1 points in slightly fewer minutes. Coach Mark Jackson expects to make a decision soon.

"I'm very comfortable with both of them," Jackson said after practice Friday.

Jackson isn't averse to tapping a rookie to play the position. Barnes is only 20 years old, but he played in a powerhouse college program (North Carolina) and brings a fairly polished game to the NBA.

"There are going to be some growing pains, and he's going to learn," Jackson said. "But whether he's starting or coming off the bench, he's going to have to learn on the fly, and I'm fine with that. He gives us a dimension we didn't have - at his best he's a slasher, cutter, finisher and scorer."

Barnes shot 48 percent on three-pointers in the preseason (12-for-25), giving the Warriors another long-range option alongside Klay Thompson. Barnes has been working on driving to the basket, so opponents cannot crowd him on the perimeter.

"It's a long season," he said, "so worrying about who starts and who plays a certain amount of minutes is not really important."

Skepticism abounds: Not surprisingly, the national perception of the Warriors is terrible. That's entirely logical for a team that was 23-43 last season and has made one playoff appearance in the past 18 seasons.

Sports Illustrated, in this week's NBA preview issue, ranked the Warriors 11th out of 15 teams in the Western Conference. Jackson insisted he doesn't care about such predictions, though he understands there's a logjam of good teams in the West.

"It's going to take doing it on the floor," he said. "We haven't done anything in a while, so we're not going to get the benefit of the doubt. And that's OK."

The magazine quoted one rival scout as saying all of Golden State's players are "overrated, with the exception maybe of Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry." The scout labeled Andrew Bogutas "nothing special" and described David Leeas "looking for his own numbers."